Ernest Brummer

Ernest Brummer (1891–1964)

The Parisian art dealers Ernest Brummer (1891–1964) and his brothers Joseph Brummer (1883–1947) and Imre Brummer (1895–1928) had a small antiquities shop at 6, boulevard Raspail, which they opened in 1906 reportedly with the help of Royall Tyler (see Elizabeth P. Benson, “The Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art: A Memoir,” in Collecting the Pre-Columbian Past, ed. Elizabeth Hill Boone [Washington, D.C., 1993], 18). A Hungarian native, Ernest Brummer, with his brother Joseph, pursued art courses at the Sorbonne and the École du Louvre, where they studied with Salomon Reinach, who had recently been appointed director of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales. The Brummers dealt initially in African tribal arts before branching out into ancient, medieval, contemporary French, and pre-Columbian art. By 1913, they had moved their shop to 3, boulevard Raspail and after the war to 36, rue de Miromesuil. By 1921 the shop was located at 203 bis, boulevard Saint Germain. At the outbreak of the First World War, they moved to New York City where they opened a branch of their business in 1914 at 175 West 94th Street. In New York, the shop changed locations several times: 2 West 57th Street; 43 East 57th Street; 27-29 East 57th Street; and 55 East 57th Street. After the war, Ernest was in charge of the Paris gallery at 36, rue de Miromesuil.

Bonnie Effros, "Art of the ‘Dark Ages,’ Showing Merovingian Artefacts in North American Public and Private Collections," Journal of the History of Collections 17, no. 1 (2005): 94–95.